Durban – A close relative of the “abducted” baby found on Sunday told The Mercury that the family were shocked by the arrest of the child’s mother and hoped police would uncover the truth and put an end to the “madness”.
The alleged kidnapping of the one-month-old baby during a hijacking on Friday morning spurred a frantic search and garnered international media attention.
For two days, emergency personnel and ordinary Durban residents alike worked around the clock to find her.
Both the mother and her husband made impassioned pleas for their baby to be returned to them.
Though names were used in earlier articles,
has taken an ethical decision not to name the baby or family members.
The story took a bizarre turn early on Sunday when police found the baby with the mother’s alleged boyfriend and a woman believed to be his girlfriend at Mariannhill Toll Plaza.
Police national spokeswoman Sally de Beer said due to information they had received, police had held a roadblock and stopped the vehicle in which the accused and the baby had been found.
The baby, who was unharmed, has been placed under the care of the Social Development department.
The two – as well as the baby’s mother – have been arrested and are expected to appear in court on Monday, on charges “revolving around the alleged hijacking and the alleged kidnapping”, De Beer said.
While details relating to a motive have not been divulged yet, a well-placed police source said it was understood that the baby’s paternity had been placed in some question and the boyfriend had claimed he was the biological father.
It was also believed that the man had been keeping the child at his home in New Hanover, near Pietermaritzburg.
The relative, who did not want to be named, said the family had rallied around offering support, especially to the child’s mother, when the child was abducted, but her arrest had left them devastated.
“We were crying with her and praying for the safe return of the baby. Now the news of her arrest is a tragic turn of events and has shocked the whole family I was there on Saturday night when the cops took her in for questioning. He (the husband) wanted to accompany her, but the police refused.”
It was only in the morning that the family learnt of her arrest, he said, and that the other people arrested were known to her.
On Sunday, media attempted to speak to the husband at the Durban Central police station but, in stark contrast to his demeanour – described as open and friendly – when he spoke to the press on Saturday, he refused to comment. He also threatened to sue anyone who took his picture.
He spent 45 minutes in the charge office, then made a beeline for his car. It is believed he thought he would be collecting the baby, but he left the station empty handed.
A Mercury reporter also went to the family’s homestead near Inanda Sunday, but the maternal grandmother was not at home.
A stone’s throw away, at the home of her daughter and her husband, the husband declined to comment.
He said: “I will not help you. You will not ask us anything here. You can say what you want as you have been, I will not say anything.”
On Sunday the police told The Mercury that the mother’s account of the hijacking had raised alarm bells.
She had reportedly told them she had taken her 8-year-old son and the baby shopping at City View Mall in Greyville, and the three were seated in their car when two armed men accosted them.
They demanded the vehicle’s keys, forced her and her son out of the vehicle and sped off with the baby girl, she reportedly said. The vehicle was later recovered in Montclair, south Durban, but there was no sign of the baby. Her belongings were also missing, and for some involved in her search, this raised the alarm that things might not be as they seemed.
KwaZulu-Natal deputy provincial commissioner for the Detective Service, Major-General Bala Naidoo, told The Mercury on Sunday that the mother’s explanation of the hijacking did not add up.
“At the time her explanation seemed out of sorts. It did not make sense to our seasoned bunch of detectives.”
Naidoo said after police were alerted to the alleged kidnapping, they immediately mobilised all resources – including visible policing, the flying squad, the dog unit, uniformed members from Durban Central Police Station and Metro Police – to find the baby.
He said they combed the crime scene for clues and analysed all possible routes the hijacker could have taken out of the city.
“We obtained CCTV footage from nearby businesses, and that too was analysed.”
He said after the vehicle was recovered, the area was cordoned off and thoroughly searched by police dogs and a forensic team, including fingerprint experts.
Naidoo said that on Saturday afternoon, they got a breakthrough.
“Through the help of technology and private experts we managed to track the whereabouts of the baby. Investigations are at a sensitive stage.”
Another police source, who cannot be named, said the baby had been found using various tracking technologies, including tracking the mother’s cellphone which had been left in her car.
“Police found one number that had been dialled more than seven times prior to the hijacking.”
The source added that the mother’s car had been found using the car’s tracking device: “The device had been deactivated because she had apparently not paid her monthly subscription. However, considering the circumstances, the tracking company activated the device and the car was located.”
Naidoo said: “We were prepared to do whatever it took to find the baby unharmed.”
Asked about the paternity issue, Naidoo said he was unaware of it.